Hello, I've been doing some resarch on "what factors make a good processor." My question is, what does the CPU bus speed mean? And how does having a higher CPU bus speed make the processor faster?
What's up thief,
Instead of explaining all kinds of x86 IBM-compatible PC architectures going back to the 1980's, I could just suggest CPU-Z
http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-131.zip But I will say that a processor's speed is the result of FrontSideBus times the multiplier. ie. my beloved old Pentium Pro runs 66MHz x 3.5 = 233MHz.
The FSB is basically the connection between the CPU and the main chip on the motherboard (the northbridge, which also connects to memory).
My AMD CPU runs 166MHz x 11 = 1833MHz. I cannot adjust the multiplier on my Athlon, it is 'locked' (unlike the Pentium Pro) and will not adjust.
So I have increased the FSB to 200MHz (400DDR) giving 2200MHz CPU speed.
Intel Pentiums are similar, however the FSB speeds are quoted using quad-datarate (QDR) instead of AMD double-datarate.
So: when you see a P4-3.0GHz on 800FSB, you know the bus speed is really 200MHz (800QDR) and the CPU is running 200 x 15 = 3000MHz.
The new Athlon64 has a new architecture giving direct connection between CPU and memory, and then they both connect to a very fast FSB, explaining their huge performance advantage over Intel.
Hope this helps. Try the CPU-Z and see what your CPU, mobo and memory are up to for yourself :^)
L8R
